Typical current gas turbine engines may combust fuel and air at temperatures exceeding 2500 degrees Fahrenheit. These combustion gases may be ignited and burned in a combustion chamber, ducted to a turbine inlet, and guided through the turbine via guide vanes in order to turn rotor blades that extract energy from the combustion gases. The materials that form these hot gas path components are often at the limits of their thermal capacity and must be cooled to prolong their service life.
Impingement cooling is one form of cooling where a stream of cooling fluid is directed toward a surface to be cooled. The stream (or jet) may be formed by a sheet set apart from the surface to be cooled and having impingement orifices. A higher pressure on an outer side of impingement sheet drives the cooling fluid through the impingement orifice, thereby forming jets that impinge the surface to be cooled at angles up to and including perpendicular to the surface to be cooled. However, increasing temperatures of combustion continue to push the limits of the components and cooling arrangements, and this leaves room for improvement in the art.